The first two weeks in August I will be a visiting artist at Sitka Center for Art & Ecology (www.sitkacenter.org) to work with their new Summer Youth Program and create a “living quilt” art installation at the Nestucca Valley Elementary School grounds. My “living quilts” are site specific outdoor art installations meant to change over time and work with nature as a partner. The “quilts” are made with handmade paper in a selected quilt pattern, and the pulp has seeds for wildflowers in the same colors and pattern. The “quilt” is installed on a prepared bed, and over time the paper dissolves into compost to nourish the earth, and the seeds sprout and grow into a blooming flower bed.

For this quilt, we are using a quilt design representing three of the most pressing environmental problems in this coastal Oregon region: salmon preservation, forest preservation and water conservation. Here is a photo of one of the quilt squares I made this week in my Santa Rosa, CA, studio to try out the design for Living Quilt for Nestucca Valley. I will be doing papermaking workshops with the kids during the two weeks, August 1 – 13, and we expect to install the 8 feet x 10 feet quilt on August 12, 2021. We will make 24 of these 16″ x 21″ squares and borders with tree images at the top and bottom and on each side. Keep watching this Blog for updates on the project and photos of the process.